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When he made his proposal, he said that ‘hard working, law-abiding, tax-paying Bristolians and their families were prevented this summer from unfettered access to vital public places’, because of travellers parking up and setting up camp ‘illegally’.

He added: “This motion is about fairness and justice

“Bristolians are getting increasingly angry that the rules that apply to them don’t for some reason apply to travellers who have illegally occupied the city’s green spaces and prevented local families from using them.

“Bristol has acquired the reputation of being a soft touch.”

But the motion was voted out - after all the councillors from all the other parties voted against this, even though continually applying for eviction orders to move on the travellers cost the council £40,000 in total last year.

The travellers themselves point out that there are only 24 legal pitches in Bristol, and they are very often full, leaving them with nowhere to go.

Travellers have set up camp on Horfield Common

Labour’s Ruth Pickersgill slammed Cllr Goulandris’ motion, and said it was ‘ill-informed, deliberately inflammatory and bordering on discriminatory’.

The Green Party’s Paula O’Rourke told councillors the Tory bid had the "dog whistle of racism about it".